Circe's page

Where Circe came from I do not know, however she ended up on my mothers doorstep one day in a rainstorm.

She had taken refuge on a window ledge hoping for someone friendly to let her in. It was a fatal mistake, as she obviously knew that the household contained another cat and was likely to be a good place to stay.

We tried to put her out after the rain to see if she would find her own way home but she would not. Every time we put her out, she just came to the window and howled. (That cry became her characteristic whenever she felt ignored)

We gave in, and took her back in, placing adverts and contacting the Cat's protection league to see if we could find an owner. The Cat's protection league asked us to look after her while they tried to find a home for her. She never left.

The Cat's protection league paid to have her taken to a vet and he told us she was at least eight years old and had already led quite an eventful life as she had signs of a broken leg in the past and very few teeth.

As she was only a small cat we thought she was much younger. She thought she was a kitten anyway.

But she had evidently been around long enough to have lost most of her teeth. She ended up with only two in her whole mouth but this didn't bother her at all.

Not long after we had her she disappeared for two days. We did not know whether she had decided to find her old home or what happened, but two days later she returned. Her back legs were virtually paralysed and she pulled herself along as best she could. It seems she had dragged herself over from wherever she had taken refuge and being too injured to climb the wall had waited by the garden gate until it was opened.

She obviously knew where she would be looked after and trusted us

It had clearly been a car accident and we were prepared for the worst from the vets.

However despite her age and the results of an X ray that showed her pelvis in a great many pieces, she made a rapid and complete recovery.

That was the nature of Circe, completely e she belonged and was irrepressible and tough as old boots. It proved almost impossible to keep her confined in a hospital box as despite of the injury to her back she had the strength of ten cats in her front legs.

Ever after she would use them to pull herself up onto wherever she wanted to climb, whilst the back pair scrabbled for grip, often with unfortunate consequences for any ornaments that got in the way!

We tried various names for her, but Circe was the one she answered to, so we named her Circe after the character in the odyssey who bewitched Ulysses sailors. She was a very beguiling cat

Our other cat was fiercely independent and being a Tom and an only cat did not readily take to interlopers in his lair. He had quite a reputation as a fighter but Circe was quite unafraid of him and forced him in the end to put up with her, to the extent that they always ate out of the same bowl together and she would follow him around everywhere like a shadow. She would often try and curl up beside him and he would try and shoo her away without success.

When my mother died in 1997, Circe had to move into a flat. This was not so good for her although there was a lot to explore.

To compensate I took her every week into a friends garden, where she would rule the roost. She never seemed to tire and was very affectionate to everybody. Except other cats that is.

She lived to a grand old age of about Twenty Years of age, and apart from a gradual slowing down and weakness, she was as enthusiatic about life as ever.

On the anniversary of my mothers death, she seemed ready to go, but I was burgled that day, and I think she held on another week because she knew I needed her.

However no cats heart can last forever and she left this earth peacefully. I can still sometimes hear strange noises and feel her presence at home. Norma, whose garden she used to visit also swears that she can hear her bell tinkling sometimes, so who knows?